Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Amazon plans giant new center
Fulfillment facility would provide faster service
Online retail giant Amazon, which is determined to move goods to customers faster than its rivals, has signed up to build a massive fulfillment center at the Palm Beach Park of Commerce.
The project, announced Thursday by the company and the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County, is the latest move by Amazon to build a tight network of distribution stations and centers that will allow it to keep tight control over the flow of products it sells to millions of Floridians.
The new one million square-foot site would create hundreds of new, full-time jobs, said Kelly Smallridge, the board’s president and CEO. She said the center, which is located west of Jupiter, is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2021.
No financial incentives were given to Amazon, no rezoning was necessary and permitting for the project was completed in two weeks, Smallridge said Thursday. And the mass layoffs that have swept the region’s economy made for a large pool of available employees.
“With the number of hospitality and retail jobs that have gone away, we have a lot of great skilled employees who are ready to go back to work,” she said.
Workers in the Palm Beach County center will pack and ship larger customer items such as mattresses, kayaks, grills and exercise equipment. In addition, Amazon will hire for roles in human resources, operations management, safety, security, finance and information technology, said Melissa Nick, a director with Amazon’s corporate operations.
Nationally, the company plans to hire 100,000 people to meet growing demand created by the pandemic as consumers move increasingly to online commerce.
The Amazon center will be the third for the county. Last fall, it opened a fulfillment center at Jog and Belvedere roads in West Palm Beach.
It currently operates seven fulfillment
and sorting centers in Miami, Davenport, Jacksonville, Lakeland, Orlando, and Ruskin. Last week, it announced a station in western Pompano Beach through the conversion of two warehouses. In 2018, it opened one in Sunrise. A robotics center is planned for Opa-locka in Miami-Dade County.
South Florida was one of 20 finalists for Amazon’s second headquarters. Amazon ultimately settled on Northern Virginia for a second headquarters and Nashville, Tenn., for an Operations Center of Excellence.
The company employs 30,000 workers statewide.
Amazon pays a $15 an hour minimum wage, and offers full medical, vision and dental insurance as well as a 401(k) with 50 percent company match, starting on the first day of employment.